Today’s post is written by David Langbart, an Archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park.

An earlier post discussed President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decision to request the formal resignation of all chiefs of U.S. diplomatic missions overseas (ambassadors and ministers), both career and non-career, after the election of 1940 and what led to that action. A similar directive went out after the election of 1944.

On November 10, three days after the election, Under Secretary of State Edward Stettinius, referring to the 1940 telegram, asked President Roosevelt if he wanted to follow the same practice. FDR “said he thought it would be wise.” As a result, the Department of State sent the following telegram:[1]

121.4 [11-1944.1] Circular to All Chiefs of Mission, Nov. 14, 1944

A review of diplomatic representation to the countries with which the United States had diplomatic relations in 1944 reveals the following personnel changes in the period November 1944 through March 1945:

Information about diplomatic representation is derived from the publication PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND UNITED STATES CHIEFS OF MISSION, 1778-1990 (USGPO, 1991) prepared by the Office of the Historian in the Department of State. Up-to-date information on chiefs of mission can be found on the website of the Office of the Historian.

Footnotes:

[1] Under Secretary of State Edward Stettinius to Assistant Secretary of State G. Howland Shaw, November 11, 1944 and Circular Telegram to All Chiefs of Mission, November 14, 1944, file 121.4/11-1944, 1945-49 Central Decimal File, RG 59: General Records of the Department of State, National Archives.

[2] Engert did not leave post until August 1945 and Palmer did not present his credentials until December 1945.